Sam Walton, the billionaire chairman of Walmart, has kicked in $40,000 to support a proposed San Francisco ballot measure to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park by draining its reservoir.

The Arkansas Republican's contribution accounts for more than half the $77,000 that's been raised this year by the Yosemite Restoration Campaign, according to election filings.

The campaign, being spearheaded locally by Restore Hetch Hetchy nonprofit executive Mike Marshall, calls for the city's Public Utilities Commission to boost its water recycling, plus study the idea of draining the century-old Hetch Hetchy reservoir - the main source of drinking water for San Francisco, much of the Peninsula and part of the East Bay.

It's interesting to note that Walton is a board member of the nonprofit Conservation International, alongside the likes of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and actor Harrison Ford - another vocal backer of the Hetch Hetchy restoration.

8. I'm quite familiar with Northwest Arkansas

Rob Walton has never been referred to as "Sam Walton."

I have to question a reporter that cannot get the name right in a story involving a family of such wealth and prominence. But, hey, the journalists of today sometimes are barely literate and are often largely uninformed about the matters they report. This reporter (and editor) should be frickin embarrassed

4. Looks like an attempt to boost bottled water sales to me.

7. Or privatized water

Disaster capitalism: create a crisis, like a water shortage, then offer "magical" solutions through the privatizing of government programs. Who's to say WalMart (or Becthel, Halliburton, et al) doesn't want to expand their business into water delivery and/or fire and police protection? Consider the billions earned by private garbage and cable companies -- why not water?